


Electrowave

by ChaosTotal (SamoShampioni)



Category: Music RPF, Real Person Fiction, Welle: Erdball
Genre: AU, Alf - Freeform, Alternate Universe, First Person Narrative, Gen, Honey, POV First Person, Plastique, RPF, Venus - Freeform, W:E, Welle:Erdball
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-02-09
Packaged: 2018-01-09 05:29:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1142036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamoShampioni/pseuds/ChaosTotal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of Welle: Erdball's adventures in a parallel universe. All Commodore 64s have been made illegal by the government, except for those that have been tampered with so heavily that they barely resemble the original anymore... and now there was this new superweapon ready to destroy the world... the Electrowave. It seemed that things couldn't get any worse. But they would.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I noticed there weren't any fanfictions about Welle: Erdball that I could find and so I decided to write one! Possibly the world's first Welle: Erdball fanfic, because honestly I have no idea if there are any more.  
> Disclaimer ect: Of course I have nothing to do with Welle: Erdball, I'm just a fan who decided to write a story about one of the coolest bands of all time ;)  
> Well, enjoy! :)

Hello there, this is Hannes Malecki, but you can call me Honey. Everyone else does. Today, I have a story to tell you, a true story. I'm going to tell you about Welle: Erdball's adventures in a parallel universe, our escape from nuclear war, and give a warning to you. Gather round, and listen to the warning of Welle:Erdball. Listen to the true story of a world not too different to this one.  
I could start off by telling you the complexities of parallel universes, or about a scientist so brilliant that by trying to improve things, he accidentally brought on the end of the world. But I'll start at the beginning, with the Electrowave. The Electrowave was first unveiled to the public on the 15th of November 2013. In this world nothing special happened on that day, it was just an ordinary day like any other. But in our world, our real world, it was the beginning of the end of everything. We just didn't know it yet.

\---

Mutually assured destruction was not enough anymore, people wanted stronger, faster weapons, more powerful. America had this now, with the unveiling of the new weapon. This weapon changed the power dynamic completely. No longer were countries who had mere nuclear weapons equal, as America could now eradicate them all with a single push of a button. But perhaps not for long. Scientists from all over the world were racing to replicate the Electrowave, and they were getting closer and closer each day. Whether this would improve the chances for peace or make war even more likely remained to be seen.

\---

Now, don't get me wrong, I love new technology, machinery is exciting, both old and new. The whizz and buzz of the computer, the emotionless value of machines, their reliability. That's one of the many things I like about computers. Predictability. Of course, errors can be made, or rather, the people programming the computers can make errors. Mistakes can be made, of course. Some machines shouldn't have been built at all. The Electrowave was one of those mistakes. At the time, the world leaders praised the Electrowave as a 'weapon for peace', whatever that highly contradictory statement meant. They told us it would bring about a new era of peace. But we knew better.

\---

A few days later we were sitting in our recording studio. We were there to discuss our music of course, but as always the conversation quickly turned to the new superweapon, and what everyone thought about it.  
"We should make a protest against the Electrowave," Venus said as we sat around an Atari 500.  
"Hasn't there already been enough protests? And Welle: Erdball isn't political, I've always said that," I replied, "Politics and music are two things that should never be mixed up. Of course, we don't support the nuclear destruction of the Earth... but... we should always try our best to remain neutral. Besides, the absolute worst thing we could do in a police state would be to criticize it."  
"Right, ok then Honey," Alf said, disinterested, "Might as well get to work on the new album then...even though there might not be a world left to release it to once we're finished."  
"Actually, that's a great idea!" Plastique said, turning to the Commodore 64 sitting in the corner, "Come on C64, let's forget about all this war business and make some music!"  
The C64's screen flashed at them.  
"No thanks," C64 said, "I would rather play games on the internet, leave me alone please."  
Plastique just laughed at this.  
"My," she said, "What a helpful computer you are."  
"Yes," C64 replied, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm very busy."  
"Why did we give you artificial intelligence again C64?" I asked as the Commodore computer proceeded to open up several browser windows filled with flash games.  
"Because you had to," the computer answered, "Now, go away, Honey."  
What an annoying computer. It hadn't always been like this. Back in the day, our computer was a genuine Commodore 64, one that worked peacefully alongside us, and didn't answer back when we wanted to do something with it. The government had done this to our precious computer. Now all we were left with was a poor imitation of a C64 that was constantly spying on us. And there was nothing we could do about it.


	2. The Wonderful World of Technology

Of course, we hadn't chosen to give the computer AI, we were forced to. Originally only one of our computers was going to have the intelligence, and we enjoyed it even though the computer was now very rude and unwilling to work with us. Originally it was a choice, but then the law changed. It had become mandatory to insert the artificial intelligence into every electronic device in the world. and we all knew the reason why, no matter how much the governments of the world denied it. To monitor us. The same reason they made sure every device could connect to the internet, even old computers from the 1980's like ours were taken away and modified. I tried to hide some Commodore 64s up in the attic of this very recording studio, despite my fellow band members warning me against it. Sure enough, one day the police kicked the door down and stormed in, inserting the chip into every computer we had, even our Atari 500 had it installed. Trying to remove it was pointless too, all AI-containing PCs were monitored all the time. It got worse too. By law, everything electronic, every appliance now had to be connected to the internet, even the toaster was online constantly. And there was no point trying to remove the invasive tech. The government could tell if you were trying to tamper with their monitoring technology, and the police were sent immediately. Privacy was a thing of the past now, as all the governments across Europe were merging into one. It seemed the powers that be wanted the whole world to be a super sized police state, except for America, which for now was a lone state, but still very much the same as Europe. A police state. Always watching, always.  
And there was something else. The AI had been inserted into the Electrowave too. So, now there was a paranoid police state and an unstable superweapon with a mind of it's own. Not always the best combination.

\---

We tried to forget, or at least put it out of our minds as much as possible. The feeling that war was imminent. We tried to convince ourselves otherwise. I mean, it would probably be fine, right? It was the same in the Cold War, everyone panicking over a nuclear conflict... and yet it never happened. This would just be the same. Hopefully.

\---

But it was a reality for some. The war. One day, we all went up into the attic of the recording studio to fetch some old records. That's when we saw it. Behind the boxes of modified Commodore 64s, there was hundreds of cans. Cans of soup, potatoes, all these sorts of things. Bottles everywhere too, some with fizzy soda, some with juice.  
"Well, this is awfully excessive, who put all this stuff here?" Plastique asked, "Was it you, Honey?"  
"No no," I said, "It wasn't me. It really wasn't."  
"Well, who else would have put all this stuff up here?" Venus said.  
I denied it again, yet they didn't seem to convinced. But then, Alf spoke up.  
"Actually," he said, "It was me. I put all this stuff up here."  
"What?! Why don't you throw the kitchen sink up here too?" Venus laughed.  
"We could do," Alf didn't seem particularly bothered that we were laughing at him, "I've been preparing, you see, in case a war broke out." At this point we were all laughing at him. Looking back, I guess we were in denial.  
Alf was the only one of us who had taken any sort of thought into serious planning for a possible war. We were lucky that he had, although we laughed at him at the time. But we were lucky we had him. Because war was fast approaching. Not that any of us realised it yet. Propaganda against America and Americans was appearing in the news across Europe, and, in America, they were told terrible things about us too. But still, we ignored it. 'Everything will be fine,' we said.  
We were just ostriches, sticking our heads in the sand to avoid an awful truth. That America was going to go to war with Europe.


	3. Computerklang

So, this was probably not a good time to go to a concert, but we had already planned this months in advance, and so, we set off. Maybe it'd help to take everyone's minds off the current affairs of this new era, anyway. But, as always, with a new era, comes new problems. In the past, we would have just taken the car to the stadium, but these days, everything was so much harder.  
"Hey, car," Alf said, as we walked over to the vehicle, "We've got a concert nearby in the Electric Stadium, can you take us there?"  
And then, silence, for a few moments.  
"No," the car finally answered in monotone, "I can't be bothered. Good day."  
"Can't be bothered?!" I yelled, "You're not even doing anything!"  
Alf tried to unlock the doors but the car kept them shut.  
"No I won't let you in," the car said, "Go away."  
What happens when you introduce the so-called 'human element' to machinery? This does. The AI was ridiculous, everyone knew that. Overly rude for no reason at all, insanely bureaucratic, and extremely lazy, refusing to do even the simplest tasks. Not to mention arrogant. The car wouldn't reply to anything else we said, it completely ignored us. And so we had to walk all the way to the Electric Stadium. And I had to carry the Commodore 64! Which, by the way, yelled at us the entire time we were walking. Alf carried the Atari 500, which stayed silent.  
Luckily for us, the stadium wasn't far away, but still. It would've been a lot easier and we would've gotten there a lot faster if that stupid car had just-  
"Honey!" I was snapped out of my thoughts by Alf yelling my name, "Pay attention! We're here already!"  
I had been so far in my own thoughts that I hadn't noticed. And yet there it was, in front of us. The Electric Stadium.

\---

But when we finally got inside the Electric Stadium, things didn't go much better. C64 was again refusing to work with us for some reason or another, and it was only a short time before we had to get on stage and perform.  
"What's wrong Honey?" Venus asked, as I argued with the Commodore computer, "Don't tell me that C64 is playing up again!"  
"Yes, it is," I sighed. I wasn't surprised. It always went like this these days.  
"Ha ha ha," the computer laughed in a monotone voice. I never figured out whether the AI being so rude was a glitch in the system or whether the government purposely designed it that way to exert yet more power over us. Either way, it was ruining everything we had worked so hard to build. How could we make music with the Commodore 64 if it now refused to work with us? Things had been so much easier back in the day. Now, things were different. So much different. All Commodore 64s have been made illegal by the government, except for those that have been tampered with so heavily that they barely resemble the original anymore... and now there was this new superweapon ready to destroy the world... the Electrowave. It seemed that things couldn't get any worse. But they would. And what does this mean for Welle: Erdball? It made things a whole lot harder for us, that's for sure. I was still trying to reason with the computer, but as usual it was no use. It just laughed again. "Honey, can we not use the Atari 500?" Venus suggested, pointing to the other computer that we had brought with us.  
"No!" I said, "We need the C64 for all of these songs!"  
"Come on, choose me," the Atari 500 was being unusually co-operative today, "I'll be your Commodore!"  
"But you can't be our Commodore!" I said, "We need C64!"  
"C64!" Alf said, "Come on buddy, we need you out there!"  
"Please C64," I pleaded with the stubborn computer, "You're an integral part of the show, we can't do it without you!"  
"Fine," the computer would have rolled it's eyes if it had any, "I'll do the damn thing. If only to stop you bugging me."  
"Thanks C64," I patted the modified Commodore's monitor. Phew. At least that was one less problem we had to deal with. But there would be many more to come.


	4. Der Kalte Krieg

A little while later the organiser of the concert came up to us and told us we were being delayed for a few minutes. Great. That was just what we needed. More time for C64 to change its mind and refuse to work with us again. The AI had not only damaged our use of technology, but it was damaging the band too. It was time someone spoke the truth. In light of the recent government laws, Welle: Erdball was becoming, well... awkward. What was the point of it anymore if we didn't have a real C64 to play with? Say what you like, the new government had ripped out everything authentic about our precious computers, and replaced it with awful new spying technology. Someone had to say it. And yet no one else wanted to, so I guess that task fell to me.  
"In light of this situation with the enforced AI, and the... uncooperative computers," I looked across at the C64 as I said this, "I... I'm not sure there is a future for Welle: Erdball."  
Alf looked up from the newspaper he was reading.  
"What?" Alf said, shocked, "What are you saying, Honey?"  
"I'm just saying, if we can't sort out the issue with the government, maybe it's for the best that Welle: Erdball is... disbanded."  
Shocked gasps from my fellow band members. I had expected as much.  
"Disbanded?!" Venus said, "But... why?"  
"Oh come on, you know why," I said, "Look at us! This isn't the same! Nothing is the same anymore! As sad as it is, I think maybe it's time we let this go."  
Suddenly, we were interrupted as a man wearing a cowboy hat who was running over to us. My band members were pleased, as it put an end to that awkward conversation. Not that it ended the issue.  
"Hey there!" Plastique said.  
"Howdy Welle: Erdball!" the man spoke to us in a low Southern drawl, "Please forgive the intrusion, the organiser said that you'd be here! Say, would you sign a few autographs for me?"  
"Uh... sure..." I said as he handed us the photos to sign.  
"Great! And good luck for the concert! You guys'll be great tonight, ya always are."  
"Thanks," I smiled at him while we continued to sign autographs.  
I mean, there was an awful lot of tension and rivalry between America and Europe, but that still didn't stop them from coming here. Maybe you might find that a little strange, that even on the brink of war, that people who were supposedly from an 'enemy' country would even consider traveling here to see us at all. But, people are people and, as I will keep reminding you, it's only ever the politicians who want war. What does the average Joe on the street have to gain from nuclear war? Nothing, that's what. Remember the Cold War? We do. Russians kept coming here even though the threat of war increased every day.  
After a while we were advised to stop talking to our American fans by the powers that be, not that we gave that any notice. We'll talk to whoever we bloody well like, thank you very much.  
"Sorry about, ya know, the Electrowave and all that," the American said.  
"Hey, we know that's not your fault," Alf said. At that moment, our conversation was cut short as the organiser rushed back into the green room to tell us we were expected on stage in a few minutes. Excellent. We just hoped that C64 and Atari 500 would co-operate this time.


	5. Chaos Total

"A big welcome to the radio hosts of our favourite radio station... Welle: Erdball!"  
The audience cheered as we stepped out onto the stage, computers already there waiting for us.  
  
\---  
  
 _Seid dabei, wenn es wieder heißt..._

 _"Hallo, hier spricht Welle: Erdball, Symphonie der Zeit. Aus dem Äther schwingt und schwillt sie in die Ewigkeit!"_  
  
The concert started off well, surprisingly. For some reason, C64 decided not to ruin the show, and worked with us, rather than against us. Maybe there was a little bit of the old original Commodore 64 left inside that machine yet. We hoped there was.  
It was towards the end of the concert that things started to go wrong. C64 started acting strangely, and then all the sound stopped. The lights in the stadium began to flicker on and off, and the ground started to shake. Suddenly, all the electronics shut off completely, our C64 being the last to fade, a fighter til the end.  
"What's happening?" I yelled into the microphone, but, since all the electronics were off, no one could hear me. It seemed that something was very wrong indeed. People in the audience were trying to check their phones, but it seemed that they had all gone off too. It was all becoming clear. Of course, the Electrowave was an EMP. If it had activated... No, this couldn't be happening. Surely this couldn't be really happening...  
Suddenly, the organiser of the concert rushed out onto the stage, snatching the microphone from my hand. I don't know why, since it didn't work anymore.  
"The AI has gone crazy! The Electrowave has activated itself!" the organiser yelled, "I-it attacked Mexico! Europe is next!"  
But somehow, they heard him. The audience stopped talking immediately, and silence descended on the room. Strange that the end would come during a Welle: Erdball concert. There was no going back now. War had begun, and here we were.  
"You're wrong," Alf said to the organiser, "Look around you. It's already hit Europe."  
And so that was it. America had attacked Germany, and possibly the whole of Europe. It was the war we had all been dreading.  
At that time I truly wished I was a robot. Because a robot wouldn't have felt anything.


	6. World War III

And so, the war had started, not because humanity had wanted it, but because the machine had demanded it. Information started to pour in to us, even though the power was still mostly out across the country. The malfunctioning AI of the Electrowave had calculated that the world would be a better place without people in it. Well, maybe it was right.  
The German government was frantically trying to restore power to the country. There was chaos nationwide, as shops were looted and riots erupted on the streets.  
  
\---  
  
We were lucky that Alf had planned ahead. Thanks to his quick thinking, we could stay in our little studio with all our supplies and not have to come out. And soon, more information came in. On a quickly cobbled together crystal set radio we made from spare parts around the studio, we could hear the news from nearby areas. It seemed that some places had gotten their power restored, as radio broadcasts came in from areas on the outskirts of the country. As we had nothing better to do, most days the four of us sat around this one radio, listening to what was going on, but making sure it was quiet enough that no one outside could hear.  
  
\---  
  
The news was very interesting. The American government apologised again and again for the attack, while at the same time trying to avoid any responsibility, emphasising the fact that the Electrowave had attacked of it's own accord, not under the orders of the US government. The Electrowave had been destroyed by the army, it was said, and this would never happen again. But few believed them, and for good reason.  
  
\---  
  
While all the European countries were dismayed by the random attack on Germany, there was one country who absolutely would not put up with this sort of behaviour from the Americans. Switzerland. Switzerland didn't want to be the next target, and the Swiss President announced that if the European powers didn't work together to stop America then soon another European country would fall to the Electrowave. Switzerland's rhetoric grew more and more. There was only one way that this could end. With yet more war...  
  
\---  
  
One day, the Swiss president revealed his country's biggest secret. At CERN, the scientists working there had finally completed their version of the Electrowave. Ironically, it musthave been the only electrical device to survive the attack.  And so, the European Electrowave was used on America.

"You reap what you sow," the Swiss president spoke into the microphone as he announced his country's attack on the United States.

This was now a real war... a world war. A nightmare war.  



	7. Die Funkhausgruppe

The streets of the city were beginning to look more and more like a warzone every day. In a way this was a warzone. There was a war going on... somewhere, we figured. We just couldn't see it from here. And so we avoided looking outside, drew the curtains, retreated to our little corner where we had our radio. I dread to think what was happening in Niedersachsen. But we never found out.

  
\---

  
The days carried on much the same. Eventually we got a knock on the door, the first time that had happened since the war started.  
There was a huge debate over whether we should answer it or not but in the end we decided to see who it was. It was the members of Die Perlen. They had been looking for us, and they wanted the whole of Die Funkhausgruppe to come and stay in the studio with us. Apparently they were quite worried that we would say no, but of course we said yes. And so, there we were, Welle: Erdball, Sonnenbrandt, Die Perlen and Hertzinfarkt. Just like in the good old days. But not quite.

  
\---

  
It was better having more people to talk to. Sometimes the silence had been never ending when there was just the four of us. But sometimes silence speaks a lot more than words.

  
\---

  
The others settled in well, and they seemed pretty happy. Perhaps too happy sometimes.  
"This is great!" MiniMono smiled as we all sat there in the studio.  
"Great?" Henne said, "You know there's a bloody war on, don't you?"  
Sonnenbrandt just shifted uneasily. As they did every time the war or the Electrowave was brought up. Almost as if they felt responsible for it. Which was ridiculous. An electronic band couldn't bring about the end of the world... could it?

  
\---

  
Of course, what we didn't realise was that Sonnenbrandt were hiding a big secret from the rest of us. A secret that would rip Die Funkhausgruppe apart and leave us all searching for answers.

  
\---

  
"Hey, Honey," Katja said to me one day, "You hear about the machine Sonnenbrandt made?"  
"Hmmm? No, why?"  
"Frau Sonne and Herr Brandt have been working on a machine, or so they say," Katja said, "I heard them talking about it the other day, but when I came closer they stopped. Almost like it's a secret or something."  
But, they knew we were talking about them, and Sonnenbrandt came walking over to us.  
"Oh Katja, let's not talk about that old thing again," Brandt brushed her off, "Besides, I'm not even sure if this new version works."  
"It worked before," Sonne said, "You know, we've tested it."  
"Sorry, what are you two talking about?" Alf interrupted them.  
"Some machine, they won't tell us about it though," Katja sighed, "And don't bother asking them what it does because they won't tell you. They'll only talk about it in riddles."  
"Well, that's because it's not ready yet," Brandt said, "We had to leave it behind in the Sonnenbrandt studio. We will tell you all when it's time."

  
\---

  
And Katja was right. They wouldn't answer any more questions about the machine, no matter how many times we asked. It was a mystery that we couldn't quite solve. But it wasn't that important, we were more worried about the Electrowave, and whether or not it would be used again.  
And so things continued here quite the same, now as Die Funkhausgruppe, rather than Welle: Erdball. Every day we took that crystal set radio out and listened for any news that could come in. But one day, the broadcasts stopped completely. We worried that America had attacked another nearby European country, possibly Switzerland or France. We sat around that radio for hours hoping we could at least find one more broadcast, but there was nothing. It never came back.

  
\---

  
One day, Herr Brandt from Sonnenbrandt took me to one side. He looked very concerned about something.  
"Honey," Brandt said, "I've got something to say, and I'm not sure whether I should say this to the rest of the group or not."  
"Yes, what is it? Oh, the machine?"  
"No, not the machine."  
"Then... what?"  
"Well, a different machine. You might not believe this, Honey, but for a while, me and my assistant Sonne... we... we used to be scientists, and quite good at it, if we do say so ourselves. Well, we were working for the American government. Paid quite a lot for it too. Not that we were working by choice. It was forced upon us by the US. You have to remember that."  
"Hmm? What kind of project?"  
"A project..." he repeated, looking at me as if it should be obvious, "For the American government..."  
"Uh..." But I quickly understood. No, he couldn't possibly mean... they didn't...  
There had only been one recent project built on the orders of the American government. Only one...  
"The Electrowave?!" I yelled, so loudly that everyone else in the studio must have heard it too, "The Electrowave? YOU BUILT THE ELECTROWAVE!?"  
Herr Brandt and Frau Sonne just looked down at the floor.  
"Yes," Brandt said, "We built the Electrowave. We're sorry. We didn't know what it would do... but we did. We built it."  
"My involvement in the project was minimal," Korg said, "But it is true. I can tell you that."  
I just stood there in shock as everyone else rushed to the room. They had all heard it. They had heard everything.  
  



	8. Liebeskrieg

"We're... we're so sorry..." Korg said, as we were all gathered around them. Sonnenbrandt looking down at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact with us.  
"You... no... you can't prove it..." Thorsten said, in disbelief, "You can't prove this..."  
"Yeah, you're right, they can't prove it," Ferdinand agreed, "So Sonnenbrandt, if this is a joke then you lot better stop it right now, because this what you're saying is actually really sick. It's not true, it's really not."  
I don't know who he was trying to convince with that last sentence. Sonnenbrandt, or himself.  
  
\---  
  
But it was true. Of course it was true. And they could prove it. Sonne, Brandt and Korg had brought with them many detailed diagrams of the inside of the Electrowave. Documents of the laboratory, letters from US government officials. Actual proof that showed they had made the machine, without a shadow of a doubt. But somehow, that only made it worse. And with that, Die Funkhausgruppe, and the whole community we had built inside this one studio, quickly began to fall apart. It was almost like we had never been friends at all, as arguments over Sonnenbrandt's role in the building of the Electrowave dominated every conversation we had. And no matter how many excuses Sonnenbrandt gave, no one could understand why. Why did they do it? Sonnenbrandt gave the explanation that the American government had forced them to do it, but they never went further than that.  
  
\---  
  
It was a little while later when I walked in on what looked like a huge argument between the members of Sonnenbrandt, and the members of Die Perlen and Hertzinfarkt. Die Funkhausgruppe was turning on itself. I didn't know how to keep our group together.  
"Please, stop this, calm down," Sonne said.  
"How dare you!" Ferdinand yelled, "Don't tell me to calm down! It's you who has destroyed this country!"  
"It wasn't like that, it wasn't!" Brandt yelled, "We were forced to do it, you wouldn't understand!"  
"How can we even look at you," Ferdinand said, "Knowing what you've done?"  
"We didn't choose to make the Electrowave!" Brandt said, "Please! When we came back to Europe we gave the scientists at CERN all our data, so that they could rebuild an Electrowave and protect Europe."  
"That just makes it worse, you idiots!" Katja yelled, "Having two of them only doubled the problem! And now there is a world war going on! It's all your fault!"  
I wanted to say something, but there was nothing left to say.  
"Please! Listen to us! Hertzinfarkt! Die Perlen!" Sonne said, but they backed away from her.  
And I was just left standing there in the doorway, watching, almost a neutral party in all of this. Of course everyone had a right to be angry at Sonnenbrandt, after all, their machine had caused this. But these arguments didn't solve anything. They just made Die Funkhausgruppe drift further apart, at a time when we needed to be closer together than ever if we were to make it past the war.  
  
\---  
  
"Honey," Ferdinand said to me shortly after this, after Sonnenbrandt had left the room, "We're not happy with this, and I've talked with Hertzinfarkt and they're not happy with this either. You know why. Because of Sonnenbrandt. They can't stay here after what they've done. They have to go. They really do. So either you make them leave, or we'll leave."  
"Wait... what?"  
"It's them or us, Honey,"  
"What? But I can't do tha-"  
"Yes you can. You're in charge around here, aren't you? This place is Welle: Erdball's property. So you can make them leave."  
"But- but-" was all I could say.  
"You'll do it. Or we will go. All of us."  
"No," I said, "You won't go, stay here. Don't leave us, stay."  
"We can't," Ferdinand said, "Not with them here."  
  
\---  
  
But I didn't tell Sonnenbrandt to leave, even though what they had done was so terrible. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. There had to be something else we could do to smooth things over. In any case, I assumed Ferdinand and the rest were only bluffing. I hadn't expected anyone to really leave the studio. Surely they wouldn't _actually_ go through with it.  
  
\---  
  
But I was proved wrong. The next day, there were strange noises coming from the lower floor. And so I went downstairs, only to find Die Perlen and Hertzinfarkt leaving the studio.  
"No no no, what are you doing?" I said as Katja picked up her suitcase.  
"We're leaving, Honey," Katja said, "We warned you we'd do this. You think we want to be there with them? Don't worry about us, we have our own studio. We'll go back there. But we can't stay here with Sonnenbrandt. Not after what they did."  
"But but but-"  
"No excuses, Honey," Ferdinand said, "We told you. It's either them or us, and you've made your choice. You won't kick them out, so we're leaving."  
And with that they left the building.  
"No! You can't go!" I ran out onto the street after them, "You have to stay here, it's safe here! Don't go! Come back!"  
But they were gone. The street was empty. I don't know how they disappeared so quickly. I looked down every alleyway, every connecting street, but they were nowhere.  
I returned to the room to find the rest of Welle: Erdball standing there, shocked at what had happened, and Sonnenbrandt, who almost looked like they had expected this.  
"Honey..." Alf said, "Are Hertzinfarkt and Die Perlen really..."  
"Gone?" I said, "Yes, they left. Just now."  
"Well then... that just leaves you, Welle: Erdball!" Brandt sighed, "So thanks for also not running off."  
"Why would we run off?" Venus said, "This is our studio! We're not going to leave our own studio! This is literally all your fault! What on earth have you done!?"  
What on earth indeed. Everything had been so peaceful in our studio all those days ago, despite the war going on. Now it was all different. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Half of Die Funkhausgruppe had left. And there we were, stood there, with the inventors of the weapon that was destroying the world piece by piece.  
  



	9. Elektrosmog

Our radio group had taken a huge hit, and suddenly, our little studio felt very, very empty. We hadn't noticed it before, when there was just the four of us, but suddenly, it became very quiet in our little hideout. For now there were just us, Welle: Erdball, along with Sonnenbrandt, the inventors of the Electrowave.  
First they had destroyed the world, then they had destroyed Die Funkhausgruppe. Now, even Welle: Erdball was falling apart. Because of them. Because of their creation. It was clear to me now. Something had to be done about Sonnenbrandt.  
  
\---  
  
In a way you could say that it was technology that destroyed the world, and not Sonnenbrandt. But still, this was a machine that they had built. No, this was entirely their fault, and I decided to do what I didn't have the courage to do before. Kick them out of the studio.  
"Get out."  
That was all I said to them. Maybe if I'd done this before instead of ignoring the issue, then they wouldn't have left. Sonnenbrandt just looked at me, not saying anything.  
"Get out," I repeated.  
"H-Honey... wha..." Herr Brandt began. No. No more excuses. Not anymore.  
"Hertzinfarkt and Die Perlen have left because of you!" I yelled, "And I don't want to be here with the inventors of that... that thing!"  
"Oh come on Honey," Brandt said, "Don't be like that."  
"No, get out, now," I said.  
"Oh come on, we can explain," Sonne said.  
Alf stepped out from the corner of the room.  
"Then you better explain it to us," Alf said, "Now. You owe us that much at least. And the explanation better be good."  
"Fine," Brandt sighed.  
  
\---  
  
And so, the story began. Brandt told us that he and his band had travelled to America back in 2012. For many years Sonnenbrandt had been conducting scientific experiments in secret in a laboratory underneath their studio, but, the band members had been careless, and discussed their experiments with each other over the internet. They thought no one was watching, but they were wrong. The US government had been watching their every move, their every post, and, eventually the CIA had tracked Sonnenbrandt down. When they arrived in America, they were immediately kidnapped and forced to build the Electrowave for the USA before they could return home.  
  
\---  
  
"And that's what happened," Brandt finished.  
I didn't know how to react to this. Sonnenbrandt just looked at us, waiting for our response. "Honey, do you believe them?" Alf turned to me.  
"I... I..." Honestly, I didn't know what to believe anymore.  
"It's the truth," Brandt said, "We swear."  
"Yes, we promise that we're telling the truth Honey," Sonne said, "You've gotta believe us!"  
But I turned away. A promise from Sonnenbrandt wasn't worth anything anymore. How could we believe them? Were they telling the truth? How could we ever know for sure?


	10. Entweder oder Entweder

Maybe it was true, maybe it wasn't. It was all news to us, in any case. We didn't even realise they were scientists, conducting all these experiments in secret under their studio. But, considering that they were secretly the smartest scientists in Germany, Sonnenbrandt should have known better than to talk about their experiments in a police state. In a world where all technology was spying on you, it was a dangerous game to post anything onto the internet. How could they have thought they wouldn't get caught?  
"Why did you post about it on the internet! You do realise the whole world is just one big police state, don't you?!" Venus yelled. It was almost as if she'd read my mind.  
"Was... was one big police state," Korg said, "The police state is over now."  
"Yes!" Plastique said, "Because of a war! That's not better! In fact, maybe we'd be better off under that police state! At least the world wouldn't have been destroyed!"  
Silence descended on the studio.  
"The world had been destroyed, Plastique," Sonne said, "Just, in a different way. It was more subtle, of course. But the world had already been destroyed."  
"Besides, it's easy to judge," Brandt said, "What would you have done?"  
"We would never!" Venus said, "If we were in you position would have never done it!"  
Brandt laughed.  
"Words, it's just words," he said, "And you don't speak for the whole of Welle: Erdball, I bet you don't even speak for yourself. Because I'm sure, if you were forced at gunpoint you would have built whatever they wanted, just like we did."  
  
\---  
  
More silence, which I took to mean agreement with Herr Brandt. I thought about what we possibly would have done if we were in their situation. If we actually had any scientific knowledge instead of just singing about it, and if it was Welle: Erdball who had gotten kidnapped by the American government. Well, to be honest, we probably would have built it too. The difference is, we don't know how to build an Electrowave. They do.  
  
\---  
  
A few days later, Sonnenbrandt were still with us in the studio. There was a huge disagreement within the band whether they should be allowed to stay or not. On the one hand, they were our friends, we had known them for years. On the other hand, well, you know. The Electrowave.  
  
\---  
  
"There is a way we can make it up to you, Welle: Erdball," Brandt said one day, as we sat in the studio, "We've seen this happen before, the world being destroyed. But we escaped it. We can do it again, and you can too."  
We all just looked at Sonnenbrandt like they were speaking gibberish. In a way, they were.  
  
\---  
  
"Alright," Brandt said, "You don't understand, but don't worry, we can explain."  
And so, yet another explanation by Sonnenbrandt began.  
"Right yes, so Jojo and I-"  
"Professionalism, Sonne," Brandt sighed.  
"Ahem, yes of course. Right, so me and _Herr Brandt_ have been working on this for quite a while now..."  
"And I don't have a clue what's going on," Korg admitted, "I just watch them build it."  
"Another machine?!" I said, annoyed. I had heard quite enough about Sonnenbrandt's machines for one day.  
"No Honey, this one is a good one, we promise. It's called... the Universum Machine!" Sonne smiled.  
"But that doesn't explain anything!" Alf said.  
"It's hard to explain, but we can leave this wartorn planet," Brandt said, "And go somewhere new. Look, I can't explain much now, we're running out of time. Can we go to our studio and bring our machine here?"  
"Fine," I said. Normally I would have been against leaving the studio and stepping out onto the ruined streets of Germany, but inviting Die Funkhausgruppe to stay with us had taken a huge chunk out of our supplies. Even Alf's hundreds of cans didn't last forever. And so, I decided that while we were out we would go and get some more.  
  
\---  
  
A little while later we went back to Sonnenbrandt's studio to get the machine. It was easier than we thought, as they didn't just have a studio in Hamburg. In fact, they revealed to us they had another studio nearby, where most of their scientific experiments were now conducted, as well as the underground laboratory in Hamburg. Walking through the empty streets of Hannover, the city was now practically a ghost town. Once, this city had been bustling with people. But there was nothing left here anymore. And I couldn't tell you whether Sonnenbrandt felt even the slightest guilt over it, or whether we were all just pawns in their sick experiment. Who knew? 


	11. Fernweh

Eventually, we entered the Sonnenbrandt studio, and there it was. Sonnenbrandt's 'Universum Machine'. So, there we all were, sitting around Sonnenbrandt's mysterious machine. It was a small remote control with a button on it. It didn't look all that important, although we supposed it must have been. We still had no idea what it was for or what it did. But we were soon to find out.  
"Yes, Welle: Erdball will be perfect, we'll use them for this," Sonne said, looking down at the machine.  
"Indeed. I hope you don't mind," Brandt smiled, although we didn't know what it was that Brandt thought we would 'mind'. We were still very confused by the whole situation.  
"Use us?" Plastique said, "For what?"  
"Testing," Herr Brandt replied as he wiped the dust from the machine, "We need to be here to activate this, so, I need... volunteers... and you, my friends, are perfect!"  
"But volunteers for what?" Alf said, quickly becoming impatient with the mysterious machine.  
"Volunteers to go through... into a parallel universe!"  
Silence.  
"Oh, yes, we forgot to say," Brandt grinned, "That's what the Universum Machine does, it takes you into a parallel universe."  
"Nonsense," was all Alf said.  
"It's true," Korg said, "You'll see."  
And so Sonnenbrandt made us all step around the machine.  
"I-I don't know about this," Venus said.  
But if it was true, there were so many things we had forgotten. The C64, as broken as it was now, I still wanted to have it with me. What if the parallel universe we went to didn't have Commodore 64s?! What a tragedy that would be! No, we had to take stuff with us. Who knows what would be waiting for us in the other world?  
"Oh," I said, "We'll have to go and get some things to take with us, is that ok?"  
"Sure," Brandt said, "Take as long as you need."  
  
\---  
  
And we did, much to Alf's annoyance as I made him carry the Commodore 64 and all of its parts.  
"Honey, do we really have to take this through?" Alf held up the C64 that we'd brought with us.  
"Yes, we bloody well do!" I said, "That's our entire life's work on that machine! I'm sure we can get it fixed somehow."  
Korg just laughed at us, and Sonnenbrandt then told us to step inside a room. The 'Universum Room', they called it. Now I was holding the remote control that was the Universum Machine, and Sonne told us that when I pushed the button we and all the things we'd took would all be sent with us into the other world.  
"Ok, so once you've gone we'll have to destroy all data about building an Electrowave. Also, we must go and bring Hertzinfarkt and Die Perlen back," Sonne said, "They should come with us."  
"But please don't worry. We'll all join you eventually, and Die Funkhausgruppe will be reunited... in a parallel universe!" Sonne beamed.  
"Yeah yeah, so we're just the test rats, then?" I said.  
"Yup, pretty much," Sonne smiled.  
Alf shot a glare at her through the glass window as we all stood inside the room. I dropped the remote which accidently pushed the button, but Sonnenbrandt didn't seem to notice as I picked it back up again. The remote started to beep.  
"Sonnenbrandt destroyed the world..." Korg sighed, "But Welle: Erdball will save it. We know you will, we believe in you."  
But it was too late, as the machine began to glow and the four of us disappeared. There was no time for any regrets now. Our country, our world, had been destroyed. This was our only escape. We had to go somewhere new.


	12. Ich bin nicht von dieser Welt

The room had disappeared, and then everything went black. When we woke up, the Universum Room was gone, and we were in the middle of a grassy field. It was night time, and there were no other people around as we all stood up and looked around. And there we were, standing there, in a new world. But it didn't feel like it. In fact, this world looked pretty much the same as the old one. One the floor, the Universum Machine remote control was just sitting there, its beeping growing more and more quiet by the second. It looked like it had smashed a little on the journey.  
We walked over to a nearby street, wondering where we were exactly. But there were no people about. I looked down at the slightly smashed remote control and pushed the button again. Suddenly, a hologram of Herr Brandt was projected onto the street.  
"No, this machine won't work again, but nice try, Welle: Erdball. If you want an explanation about parallel universes, press the button again. If not, then don't press it. I'll understand."  
But I was too shocked to do anything. It took Alf yelling at me to push the button again for me to do it. The hologram of Brandt smiled.  
"I knew you'd do that. Ok, so there can be an infinite number of parallel universes, but, at time of this recording, there are only six that I personally been to. Counting the one that has just been created, there are now seven that I kmow of. And that's my lucky number. Now, for some other things. Don't make the same mistakes we did. Please remember that parallel universes are worth exactly the same as the 'original' universe. In fact, you may think that the universe you are from is the 'original', but that is not the case. It is a parallel universe that was created the first time that I built the machine. I can make a machine to visit a specific parallel universe, but there wasn't any time. So, the machine you guys used has created a new one. Unfortunately, because of this, I can't tell you anything about the new universe, but then you guys get all the fun of exploring and finding out for yourselves!"  
Brandt's smile faded as a knock on the door was heard in the recording.  
"I will try my best to join you guys," Herr Brandt said, "But the information on how to build an electrowave must be destroyed first. Good luck, guys."  
And with that, the hologram faded. Leaving us with many, many questions. The universe was created when we used the machine? So what of the people here? Were their memories fabricated? Or did the entire history of the new parallel universe happen in that split second that we were travelling? If our home was also a parallel universe, then how much of what we remember has actually happened? Is there another Welle: Erdball somewhere, in some other universe? What about here? Is there another Welle: Erdball here? And why did Herr Brandt record that hologram? He must have known that we were the ones going to be using the machine. So how far in advance had this been planned? Who knocked on the door? There were questions, so many questions. But questions without answers are meaningless. As much as I hated to admit it, we had absolutely no idea exactly what had happened, or how any of it was possible. I guess we would just have to find out about this new world for ourselves.


	13. Arbeit Adelt!

"So basically," Alf said, as we walked down the road, "Sonnenbrandt were from another universe the whole time?"  
"Yup," I replied, "And they sure were good at keeping that a secret."  
"Nevermind Sonnenbrandt! We have more important things to be doing right now! We should ask around and find out about this world," Venus said, and so, it was agreed. And eventually, we found some people walking around on the mostly empty streets.  
  
\---  
  
In the beginning it was ok. The locals of the world were interested in us, at first. But they were extremely cryptic, almost as if they felt they couldn't talk about certain things.  
"And this," a woman pointed to the logo of Welle: Erdball which was on our clothes, the rotated VEB Sachsenring logo, "It's a reversed Trabant symbol, isn't it?"  
"Yes, yes it is," I said, "It is indeed."  
"But Trabant is the symbol of progress! Do you have permission from Flantis to use this?"  
"Uh... no, who's Flantis?"  
"You've never heard of Flantis?" the woman was shocked, "Well, you'll just have to find this out on your own."  
And with that the woman walked away. Nevermind that in this world Trabant was apparently the 'symbol of progress', and that they could say that without any irony whatsoever, who on Earth was Flantis?  
  
\---  
  
It soon became a lot harder to find out more about this place than I had expected. People spoke in riddles, and you had to be careful what you asked them. No one wanted to talk about 'Flantis', whoever that was. They didn't much like the Welle: Erdball clothes either.  
"Hello, hello," we walked up to a random man walking down the road holding a shopping bag.   
"And who are you lot supposed to be?" he said, "You goin' to a fancy dress party or what?"  
"Uh... no, we're Welle: Erdball and-" I was interrupted.  
"Hey, have you seen this group of right plonkers," he said as some other people walked up to us, "Oi, are you lot meant to be dressed up as the Gestapo or what?"  
"Actually, I could point out at least a hundred differences between our costume and the gestapo 'uniform'," Alf began, but they just laughed at us again. I sighed. So, these guys weren't going to be useful then. At that point Alf had an idea.  
"Actually," he said, "We are working on behalf of Flantis!"  
"Indeed we are!" Venus said, "Flantis sent us here!"  
"O-oh... you're..." the man looked shocked, before running away, dropping all his shopping. The others ran away too.  
"Great idea Alf," I said, "Scare everyone off."  
"But I didn't mean to!" Alf said, "I thought that would have helped! And just who is this Flantis guy anyway?"  
"I've got absolutely no idea," Plastique said, "But it seems to be a very important matter. Whoever this Flantis guy is, we're sure to find out soon enough."


End file.
